This man has been one of my best most loyal salmon guide colleagues over the last 20 years. Martin worked with me on the Newtyle Beat in 2004 & 2005 before I assisted him in getting started on the Kinnaird salmon beat where he's thrived ever since. Martin is in one of his Tay salmon boats in this shot motoring up through the Channel Pool on his Kinnaird Beat.

Here's professional River Dee salmon guide John Fyfe holding 1 or 3 salmon that he landed on the River Tay near Dunkeld during the month of August. I personally guided him this day to eliminate him guessing where the salmon were holding and his professional salmon fishing presentation expertise did the rest. This Summer salmon was landed at the Green Bank Pool on the Kinnaird beat and you can see the Tay salmon boat in the background.

This was a perfect River Tummel salmon of 11lbs caught that I caught while working as a salmon guide in May near the mouth of the River Tummel. You can see the light blue floating fly line on my fly rod which was fitted with a 15ft sinking tip just to get the fly down a foot or two in the water column. Note the fine meshed landing net bag the salmon is lying on.

Here's Jock Monteith powering upstream in a traditional larch built River Tay salmon fishing 'coble' boat at the confluence of the River Tay & River Tummel during the month of May. Jock has his cold weather clothing on and Tweed cap in addition to his life jacket which is essential for all boat or riverbank duties.

Here's Jock Monteith photographed with his black labrador dog 'Selkie' in the Cottar Pool of the Newtyle Beat during late Spring. This shot was taken by professional Scottish photographer Peter Sandground while Jock was in his tweed jacket and traditional River Tay salmon fishing boat near Dunkeld. You can almost make out the bluebells on the grassy slopes in the background.

This professional guide from the River Dee is holding 1 or 3 salmon landed that August day. John Fyfe came down from the River Dee to be guided by Jock Monteith who is renowned for his excellent guiding abilities. This salmon was caught on the Upper Kinnaird salmon beat at the Daffodil Lie Pool which is immediately downstream of the Logierait Bridge which is clearly visible in this picture.

I took this shot of the beautiful Lower Blackhall salmon beat on the River Dee near Banchory. Our River Dee salmon fishing guides bring our Dee salmon fishing trip guests to this pool and they fish it from the opposite bank where you see the sand and then cast their salmon fly across to this riverbank letting the current swing the fly back across the river.

Salmon Fishing & Spey Casting Tuition

By Jock Monteith 22nd April 2018

If you want to fish successfully for Scottish salmon then there's no point turning up on a river without the right equipment.

Knowing exactly how to use your salmon fishing equipment is pointless unless feeding the ducks is the reason you're there!

Take The Head Ghillie's Advice

The above generalised statement is only the 'tip of the iceberg' of the shenanigans that occur on the Scottish rivers on a daily basis. There's very few if any anglers that can turn up on an individual salmon fishing venue and teach the head ghillie anything about his beat to do with where salmon are to be found or how best to catch them. Even this week I hear reports of anglers not listening or refusing to adjust their fishing tactics even when repeatedly advised to do so by a highly knowledgeable professional ghillie. What on earth is the point of coming to the Tay or any Scottish river unless you're prepared to take 'educated' advice on how & where to look for a taking fish from the man who knows the water intimately! A good pair of ears is a very valuable asset in Scottish salmon fishing and the ability to act upon sound fishing advice when given.

Scottish Salmon Fisher Standards

Based on my own personal river observations the salmon fishing angling standards in Scotland are generally somewhere south of average. As a professional beat ghillie I'd be fortunate if I'd see one angler a month that I'd have respect for their ability to fish. Mysteriously enough these guys when they did appear seldom ever blanked and seldom were restricted to one fish a day either! The male ego has indeed got a lot to answer for in Scottish salmon fishing from the 'sleeping' non forward thinking management & agents of the Scottish rivers all the way down to the stubborn visiting anglers who turn up with cotton wool jammed in their ears! There's nothing that expands the human mind more than learning the intricacies of how to make a salmon open its mouth so bin your preconceived notions of uselessness and listen to the professional who'll gladly impart his knowledge to give you the best chance of success and staying in the game!

Forward Thinking Salmon Fishery Management

From a river management point of view unless there's a graph at an AGM that's showing projected salmon runs 60 months ahead of time and exactly how that's going to be achieved then they should do Scotland a favour and disband themselves. Nothing is going to change with stock positions unless the way Scottish rivers are managed changes first. This is a simple business of wild smolt output and delayed gratification due to the 5 year cycle of salmon so if a fishery board is only looking at what happened that year (or last year!) then this type of 'rear view' mirror management is never going to bring the true target of increased salmon runs to fruition.

Qualifying Scottish Salmon Anglers

With the majority of salmon anglers I totally get & respect their desire to be out on a salmon river but most entered the game on an low cost permit via agents that don't understand how to qualify. Thousands of salmon anglers will have dropped out of this game after a brief exposure over the last decade (unquantifiable loss) who would have more than likely have stayed in for life had they been introduced to the pursuit correctly and offered some basic salmon fishing 'equipment & tuition' advice.